Richard2901

Don't mind mild south westerlies as they are dry and sunny just as long as they don't last for weeks at a time. The southerly/south easterly dross endured this autumn is a different matter enitrely. This past week has been about the most detestable spell of autumn weather I can recall. Day after day of dark, murky gloom and drizzle with temperatures stuck between 9 and 11C . No sun for 6 out of 7 days - only on Saturday when the wind was from S.W. did we get a respite from this garbage. There have been no very mild conditions here during October and November except at night. Just 2 days in November have reached 12C and only just: 12.3C on the 1st and 12.4C on the 12th - two days when the vile S.E. winds weren't blowing. Normally the warmest days of November would see more like 14 or 15C here. Should have seen the first air frost nearly a month ago but the lowest I have recorded has been a ridiculous +0.8C. Can't bear the prospect of this depressing rot continuing over winter

My most hated weather varies depending on the season but always involves one type of easterly wind or another. Summer - would be exactly what we endured this year. Chilly northerly or easterly winds delivering dismal grey skies and light autumnal type rain. Maxes of below 16C. Autumn - again exactly what we've seen this year (and in many recent years). Southerly or south easterly winds delivering lots of unpleasant and extremely boring weather - light rain, grey skies, exceptionally mild minima especially in double figures, non-descript near-average maxima that feel chilly due to the wind, little or no diurnal ranges with the temperature sometimes higher during the night than during the day. Winter - more or less the same as autumn except, whilst I don't mind heavy rain in autumn if it brings large totals, I can't stand it in winter. February 2011 was the perfect example of the sort of winter month I destest the most and December 2002 was even worse. South easterly winds delivering dark gloomy wet conditions, very mild minima of 4-6C and near average days of 5-7C, little or no frost or snow. Spring - the only season during this nightmare year that hasn't delivered the worst possible conditions which would be dull cold and drizzly easterlies or north easterlies. Thankfully there hasn't been much of this in spring since the ghastly final week of March 2005.

Awful day. Just like 80% of days since mid-July it's grey, cool and wet 5.2mm of rain so far taking the total since noon on Friday to 27.8mm. Min of 8.9C and currently 13.3C. Wind from the NE.

My perception is of a vile, putrid horror show that started bad and just got worse and worse. It's a perception well backed up by the facts which show it to rate amongst the coldest, dullest and wettest summers on record. My summer index shows the only worse post-war summers to be, in order of awfulness: 1948, 2007, 1987, 1963, 1966 and 1954. Never before have five successive summers scored worse than average although 1962-66 came out worse than 2007-11 overall but 1964 rated slightly above average. What is even more galling is that all of those summers above, except 1966 and 2007, were followed by decent Septembers and even those two were nowhere near as dire as 2011. If anything this September has turned out even worse than the summer. Over 50mm rain so far this month, just 5 dry days and a horrific 52 hours sunshine. Since 16th July I have recorded just 208.5hours sun or 65% of average making it not only the worst spell of weather I can recall at this time of year but one of the worst at any time of year. It is also less than I recorded during April alone which has turned out to be the sunniest month this year. Only 6 of the last 23 days have recorded as much as 3 hours of sun and the last time 2 consecutive days managed 6 hours was 19th and 20th August. It feels like late October already with all this incessant depressing gloom Summer 2011 may not quite have managed to be the worst post-war summer but unless there is a big turnaround in the next 10 days then the June to September period may well go down as the worst.

My highest depth measured last winter in the outskirts of Aberdeen was 28cm on 2/12/10. A few miles further west there was c.40cm at Westhill which is the deepest snow I've seen. Winter 2009/10 produced a peak depth of 19cm on 7/1/10. 28cm last year is the deepest I have recorded followed by 26cm in March 2006. Obviously there have been much greater depths in Aberdeen in the distant past - 50cm in February 1955 and c.70cm in December 1908. Hopefully this coming winter will manage closer to those historic depths than the past two

Rainfall Totals here: Jan: 48.0mm (78%) Feb: 86.6mm (168%) Mar: 69.0mm (128%) Apr: 11.8mm (21%) May: 34.8mm (71%) June: 78.0mm (142%) July: 63.8mm (118%) Aug: 105.0mm (194%) Total: 497.0mm (114%) Only three drier than average months and May was only dry because the coastal fringe escaped the worst of the rain (and most of which did make it here, fell at the weekends making it feel like a wet month). May averaged 144% across N.E. Scotland so only two drier than average months this year for this region and only 9 drier than average out of 28 since May 2009 due to the dearth of the formerly prevailing west and south west winds

An utterly vile summer - one of the worst ever with no redeeming features. It was comparable to the very worst of the 60s summers for lack of warmth and persistence of cold, dull weather. I recorded below average maxes on 66/92 days with 41 of those being at least 2ËšC colder than average compared to just 9 days that were at least 2ËšC warmer than average. A shocking 3 days only reached 21ËšC and just 6 days reached 20ËšC. Dyce recorded a mean max below 16.5ËšC in all three months for the first time since 1963, the only other summer in 70 years of records that this has happened. In addition the mean max was closer to the record cold summer of 1948 than the likes of 1995 and 2003 got to the record warm summer of 1976. As well as being cold it was also very wet and dull with a ridiculous number of depressing, gloomy overcast days particularly during the second half. Dyce recorded the joint highest number of sunless days (with 1978) since 1958. Here are my own readings compared to estimated 1981-2010 averages and also previous years records (back to 2005 for temps and rain and 2007 for sun). All three months colder, duller and wetter than average Mean Max Temperatures June: 16.0ËšC (-0.1) July: 16.2ËšC (-2.2) August: 16.4ËšC (-1.6) Summer: 16.2ËšC (-1.3) 2010: 17.8ËšC, 2009: 17.7ËšC, 2008: 17.4ËšC, 2007: 16.6ËšC, 2006: 18.6ËšC, 2005: 17.7ËšC Rainfall June: 78.0mm(142%) July: 63.8mm (118%) August: 105.0mm (194%) Summer: 246.8mm (151%) 2010: 178.6mm, 2009: 210.0mm, 2008: 198.0mm, 2007: 261.4mm, 2006: 98.0mm, 2005: 124.8mm Sunshine June: 163.2hrs (96%) July: 137.4hrs (83%) August: 117.2hrs (73%) Summer: 417.8hrs (84%) 2010: 443.0hrs, 2009: 505.1hrs, 2008: 420.7hrs, 2007: 352.4hrs If I was awarding it a score it would be 1/10 and it would only be that high because it wasn't quite as awful as 2007. Just disgusting and all the worse for being the 5th poor summer in a row and the 10th poor summer in 14 years

The predicted large rain totals have not materialised here this weekend with only 0.4mm and 2.4mm today but that hasn't stopped it being the worst of many write-off weekends in this putrid summer. The strong winds, low temperatures and vile grey skies make today the worst I can ever recall in August (and that's with the foul day of 10th August 2011 still fresh in mind). With a current temp of only 11.3C and 33mph winds it feels like a summer day in an Arctic wasteland . Indoor temp of 15.6C this morning was the lowest I can remember in summer It felt more like summer on my birthday in January when I went for a walk down at the beach in mild sunshine and even December's frigid cold of -8C, but with no wind and crisp sunshine, felt far more pleasant. A wretched end to one of the poorest summer's ever recorded in this part of the country though still not as bad as 2007. Not only has it been a virtual write-off in terms of pleasant weather but also interesting weather. The brief heatwave of early June, when it reached 26C, and the torrential rain in the evening of 14th August, with a rain rate of 145mm/hr, were the only remotely interesting events

Was originally forecast to be a washout today then forecast was changed to sunny spells at the last minute. Neither have proved correct as it is another bleak,grey overcast nothing day with no rain or sun . Stubborn sheet of gloom doesn't look like breaking much so temperatures unlikely to rise much more than a couple of degrees above the dire 11.9C at the moment. Fairly windy too so feels more like late autumn or even winter. Been dry the past week but still utter rubbish due to every day except Wednesday being cloudy with below average temperatures. Thankfully only four more days of what is now the worst season of the year to endure, then we can look forward to the start of the 8th autumn month of 2011 EDIT: While I've been writing this it's just started drizzling. Absolutely fantastic summer weather

Given that 3 of the last 4 very poor summers have been followed by poor September's I'm not holding out much hope that this year will be any different. Here's what the past 4 September's have been like here: 2007 - Started very warm and reasonably sunny with most of the hottest days of the year being in the first week, temps of 21-23C. Went downhill rapidly with most of the month being very cool, cloudy and unsettled. 2 days of single figure maxes and several days of 10-12C in the 2nd half. 2008 - Very boring with average temperatures and no extremes of hot or cold. Lots of anticyclonic gloom. 2009 - Started exceptionally wet with flooding and the wettest September day since 1956 but after the 5th the majority of the month was settled, warm and sunny so a good month. Warmer mean maximum than every month of summer 2011. 2010 - The type of month I despise the most. Wind dominant from the S.E. giving a cool, cloudy and wet month with persistent low maxima, low diurnal ranges and mild minima with no cold nights.

Earliest for falling snow was 3rd October 1994. Earliest for lying snow 16th October 1993 when we had a couple of inches some of which was still lying in the evening. Latest for lying snow was 6th May 1997 when there was a brief cover of snow in the morning. Latest for falling snow I'm not sure - have seen falling snow/sleet several times in mid-May but no more than a few flakes. Probably no later than 16th May.

Sunshine has been appalling here. I've recorded about 59 hours for the first 16 days of August with the 31 days since 17th July racking up 96.7 hours which is only marginally better than the dismal 92.8 hours recorded in August 2008. June 2007 was worst of all, for a calendar month, with 88.6 hours though the 30 day total for 15th July to 13th August 2011 was even worse at only 83.9 hours. Compare this with 88.9 hours for the 30 days ending 3rd February 2011 Seems to be a return to the dark days of the 1960s with these dismal summer monthly sunshine totals below 100 hours becoming a regular occurrence. Summer sunshine total to date 358.4 hours so very little chance of getting anywhere near the average of just over 500 hours.

The misery continues here. Yet another utterly foul summer evening. Wet, murky, and miserable with an easterly wind. 11th consecutive day of rain in this putrid August and the 74th successive day below 21C in this stinking summer, smashing the previous record by 5 days and no end in sight. It really says something when even in the 1960s summers the lack of warmth was never this marked. These are the statistics for here for mid-July to mid-August which should be the peak of warmth for the summer. Mean max: 2.5C below average Rainfall: 220% of average Sunshine: 55% of average A truly sickening set of statistics. Thankfully I was abroad for two weeks. It was bad enough having to endure just over half of it. Pretty much as dire as it is possible to get. The sunshine and rainfall would be worse than average even for October Getting any sort of poor summer after the shocking rubbish of recent years would beggar belief never mind one as diabolical as this. It's a pity Philip Eden hasn't updated the regional figures on his website. I would imagine rainfall for Eastern Scotland to be running somewhere around 400% of average for the first half of August.

I'd like to be able to have good whine about today's shocking weather but unfortunately there are no words in the English language to do justice as to how vile it's been Non-stop rain all day, an easterly wind and max of only 10.9C . I have had to put the light on already as it''s so dark. Only four other August days as cold as 11C in the past 70 years (12/8/51, 16/8/62, 11/8/93, 24/8/93). Nothing colder. That's a cold record equalled then. Friday should see a new one set with no prospect of reaching 21C by then. We'll be lucky to get temperatures as warm as 3C below average never mind 3C above

Yet another foul weekend here. Today was diabolical like so many days of this utterly repugnant summer. Cold, wet and sunless all day. Many reports of flooding but thankfully we avoided the worst of the deluge here. Still had 11mm of rain and temps stuck on 12-13C It just keeps getting worse and worse with the first week of August being one of the poorest starts to summer month I can recall. Already had well over half the monthly rain average and the lowest sunshine total for the first week of any month since February 2010. Still at least we can boast 3 times as much sunshine as Kinloss, where there has been only 4.1 hours sun for the first week of August Doubt there is anywhere on earth that has such awful summer weather has what we've been enduring for the past month. Just day after day of depressing grey overcast and abysmal well below average temperatures. Even the Faeroe Islands have a higher sunshine average than what we've had over the past month. I make today the 17th day out of 30 since 9th July to have had less than an hour of sunshine- two more than during last years dull November Not seen 21C since 3rd June and if it isn't reached again by Friday then we will see a new record set for consecutive summer days below 21C, beating the previous record of 69 days set in 1980 and 1998 (with records for Dyce going back 70 years)

19.5C with sunny spells which counts as an excellent day by summer 2011 standards. Reached a max of 20.1C earlier - only the 3rd time 20C has been reached since 3rd June. Still awaiting the first 21C since then

Just come back from holiday and am shocked at the poor temperatures I'm seeing on my weather station download so I voted 'As bad or even worse than the last 4'. Certainly far worse than 2008, 2009 and 2010 and one of the worst July's of all time for the following reasons: Mean maximum 2C below average. 1978, 1980 and 2000 were the only July's with colder mean maxima in the Aberdeen area in the last 40 years. The Septembers of 1999, 2003, 2006 and 2009 were all considerably warmer. I recorded only 4 days that reached the average of 18C (3rd, 8th, 14th and 15th). Absolute max was just 20.1C and Dyce recorded a shocking monthly maximum of 19.9C - the first time since 1965 that 20C had not been reached in July and only the 2nd time in a 70-year record. Second half of the month was exceptionally cold and dull. Lowest mean maximum since 1970. Maxima of just 14-17C most days. The highest temp I recorded in the second half of the month was 17.4C on the 27th which is still about 2C below the average for late July. 25th had a max of only 12.8C. Dire sunshine levels once again at only around 80% of average and a ridiculous number of overcast days. Only 1998, 2000 and 2007 have been duller in the past 20 years. Only the sunny first four days saved it from being the dullest July since 1968. Total of just 96 hours for the 31 days to 4th August - worse than the average for October and almost as bad as June 2007 and August 2008. Rainfall above average though not as wet as 2007, 2009 or 2010. No thunder or any heavy downpours just autumnal like drizzle and light rain. Not a single day of SW winds with disgusting northerly and easterly winds prevailing as has been the case in virtually every single summer month since August 2006. A foul month with no redeeming features as far as I'm concerned. July 2010 had a good first half, July 2009 was good at the start and end while July 2008 had a good second half. July 2011 however was pretty much rubbish the whole way through like July 2007 only colder.

Yes, July 2006 was exceptionally warm and sunny here but it was really the only good month. August was terrible - the dullest summer month here since August 1979 but was since surpassed by June 2007 (dullest June ever recorded) and August 2008 (dullest August since 1963). Didn't think much of June 2006 either as while most of the country had a glorious first third, many days were spoiled here by dreaded cloud off the North Sea. The second half of the month was fairly unsettled although rain amounts were fairly small. Much preferred 2005 to 2006 as there were more weeks of good weather just never anything outstanding like July 2006. However a prolonged spell of horrendously cold and dull weather at the end of July really spoiled that summer.

Another horrible washout weekend here and today was just foul. A dark gloomy morning more like November with rain lashing down. Just what you want to wake up to on a Monday morning. Was the most unpleasant walk to work in a long time. Clocked up 17.8mm in total taking the monthly total 10% above average . Another wasted summer evening with featureless grey skies and temps stuck on 14C for hours . Might as well have got dark at 5pm. Thankfully I'll be in Portugal in a few days enjoying proper summer weather

Yes, I am thoroughly sick fed up of the awful summers we've been enduring up here since 1998. Most summers were good between 1989 and 1997 but 2003 was the only good summer between 1998 and 2006 with 1999, 2005 and 2006 mixed and the others poor. Poor barely begins to describe what we've been subjected to since 2007. It's been more like Icelandic/Faeroese summers than British summers. There's not even been one decent summer month since July 2006 whereas even in the 1960s 6 out of 10 summers had at least one good month. The East of Scotland has been suffering the most from the exceptional high frequency of southerly tracking lows as instead of being in the rain shadow with west and south west winds we get vile northerly and easterly winds giving copious amounts of rain. The Met Office regional rainfall series for Eastern Scotland http://www.metoffice.../Scotland_E.txt shows that 3 of the last 4 summers plus 2002 and 2004 i.e. half of the previous 10 ranked amongst the 12 wettest summers of the past century. 2011 looking a safe bet to add to that list given that some parts must be close to having had their whole seasonal average rain already This summer so far is worse than 2008, 2009 and 2010 and barely any better than 2007 - the worst summer of the past 60 years. It's an unprecedented 5th poor summer in a row, the previous worst sequences being 4 in a row (1960-63 and 1977-80). There's been no wind at all from the SW quarter in July and practically none in June either, apart from the first few days, resulting in persistently low temperatures, well above average rainfall and below average sunshine (albeit nowhere near as bad as 2007 when the first half of summer unbelievably had less sun than the first half of the previous winter ) . I have only recorded 20C once since 4th June - on the 3rd July when it reached all of 20.1C. Truly dire and it looks like we'll be lucky to top 15C the rest of this week. Annual total so far of just 5 days reaching 20C and 2 of those were in the first third of April!! Thank goodness that foreign holidays are cheap and affordable nowadays unlike during the woeful summers of the 50s and 60s. I go abroad three times a year compared to just once before 2008 and don't bother with UK holidays anymore

Another dire day here as expected. 8 oktas of slate grey featureless cloud all day. I've already shut the curtains even though it's still light because I'm so sick of it. Rain through the night and early morning making it the 16th day out of the last 21 in which it has rained. Sunshine for the past week only 13.2 hours so another appalling spell of summer weather. Parts of the East of Scotland (Aboyne, Leuchars) already clocked up more than their monthly average rain for July with plenty more foul weather to come by the looks of things

July seems to be heading the same way as June here. Decent start then rapid degeneration into rubbish. Apart from Friday it's been horrible here since Tuesday and this weekend has been a complete write-off. Yesterday was grey and miserable pretty much all day with persistent rain/drizzle the whole afternoon and today almost exactly the same except the rain was heavier but less prolonged. Winds from the north or east as is the norm these days Less than 2 hours sun and over 10mm rain makes it the worst weekend since March and that's saying something given how awful the weekends have been since the start of May. Looks like more of the same garbage tomorrow for the local holiday Monday I'd rather be at work.

I've recorded 139.9 hours up to yesterday about 98% of average for the first 25 days. Looks like the 8th consecutive June to have average or below average sunshine here. Weekday average per day has been a decent 6.3 hours but weekend average a dismal 3.7 hours hence why this month has seemed so awful.

Just popping out of lurk mode to have a moan at how sick fed up I am of having to endure yet another awful summer. Today was forecast to be decent - dry and fine with temps of 21C which may not be a heatwave even here but still a huge improvement on the last few weeks. However it's another lousy day - raining with not a glimmer of sun so far and only 15.4C . In the past , under these synoptics, rain would have been restricted to the NW Highlands with the east coast enjoying warm,sunny weather with SW winds as opposed to cool, wet conditions and a SE wind. Little wonder it seems impossible to get a good summer month nowadays with none since 2006. Even the 60s summers weren't this persistently poor. May and June have been a total nightmare here due to a succession of appalling weekends. What should be the two best months for outdoor activities reduced to a write-off. The only remotely decent weekend here was 28th/29th May and that was only because we managed to avoid the showers. Shockingly bad weekends have been a regular feature of the past 4 summers making them seem even worse than they actually were. In 10 of the last 12 summer months I have recorded worse weather at the weekend than weekdays and I thought we couldn't possibly get this for a 5th summer in a row but that's exactly what seems to be happening yet again Up till the 17th we actually had quite a lot of fine days though pretty much all during the week when most are at work but at least you can get out in the evenings for some fresh air. The last 9 days have been utterly ghastly - woeful even by the rock-bottom standards June has sunk to over the last 15 years. 33mm of rain, only 1 dry day and just 21 hours of sun since the 18th. Summer? This would be dire in October. Wednesday, in particular was putrid with rain all day and a max of 10.7C. Unbelievably, only 9 days from the start of what should be the warmest month of the year, this was the coldest day I had recorded since March